Grandparents

I had the opportunity this morning to participate in a first ever event in the USA. Our church, the Cathederal of St. Ignatius Loyola here in the diocese of Palm Beach, celebrated the first "Grandparent's Pilgrimage Mass". It was wonderful! It seems that this event got started in Ireland and draws over 14,000 people each year. It is a mass to pray for the grandparents of the world because we are the last line of help for our youth. Our families have been falling apart for years now. Divorce is easier than a manicure and has become the first thought in the minds of couples who are having problems. Husbands and wives "fall out of love" and no longer stay together for "the sake of the children". Kids are living in houses with one parent and more often than not, no parents. Mom and dad are working full time trying to pay the mortgage on the huge house with a pool and make the monthly payments on the 2 BMW's in the garage. Kids are raising themselves and the first thing to go, if it ever was a part of their lives, is their religion. More likely than not the kids have never been brought up with any religious influence. Too many parents give the same lazy answer of, "they can choose what religion they want to follow when they grow up". NOT ! If you don't know something exists why would you be interested in finding it?
So there is this wonderful movement that has been brought to the United States to encourage grandparents to introduce or reinforce religion in the lives of their grand children. We have the time, we have the faith, we have the love, we have the pasion to encourage our grandchildren to practice a faith. We old folks have learned that there is a God and nothing but nothing gets done without the help of God. I guess we didn't do such a good job getting that point across to our kids so maybe we can do better with our grandkids.
The mass today was wonderful. Our Bishop said the mass and gave a stiring homily inspiring all of us there to not sit back but to speak up, take action and LOVE our grandchildren so much that they will follow us on the path to a stronger life in faith. My wish for you all is to hear this message and spread it to all your friends. If all things are possible through God than don't you think God should come first in your life? I'll say a prayer for you . . . can you do the same for me?